Three Little Words
by OddEnthusiasms
Summary: Angela's having a hard time saying a certain threeworded phrase. AngelaHodgins. Xposted to LJ. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Okay, so maybe this isn't a story line that's worth a multi-chapter fic, but who's really caring anyways, huh? Still, I'd love for some feedback from any readers out there!

**Disclaimer:** Ha. Don't own 'em. I wish, though...

Three Little Words  
Chapter One

I shift my position on the couch, snuggling even closer to Jack. I feel him move his arm around my shoulders, gently rubbing his fingertips against my arm. It takes me a few seconds to realize that I'm not imagining his gaze on the top of my head. Then I look up at him.

"What?"

"You're usually not this content to do nothing," Jack says, giving me his most mildly suggestive grin.

"It was a long day." He is the one who needs all the coffee because he doesn't get enough sleep, after all.

"But we worked through lunch." Now his grin is severely suggestive.

I turn myself completely around to face him. "Excellent argument." The kiss is slow and sensual, and is the type of moment I want to never end. But Jack does end it - he pulls his lips away from mine and looks at me.

"I love you," he says, and I don't know what to say back. So I say nothing. When I try to kiss him, he pulls away. "But you don't feel the same way."

I trail my hand down the side of his face. "You know I do."

"No, I think you do. How could I possibly know it if you've never said it?" He spoke a truth I had never seen before.

"Jack..." I move away from him. We were straying dangerously far off-topic. With our original, non-verbal conversation, the conclusion was likely sex; with the new road he'd taken, I could only guess what was going to happen.

"I love you, Angela," he says again. "I need you, too. If you don't love me, then let me know, please. Just give me some notice before you walk away."

"I'm not going to walk away."

"Doesn't mean you love me."

"But I do," I protest truthfully. When I reach out and grab one of his hands in both of mine, he looks skeptical, but doesn't pull it away.

"Then say it."

"What?"

"Say that you love me."

"I just told you I did."

"But you didn't say it." In a twisted way, I understand exactly what he means. He won't believe it until the exact words roll off my tongue. But they're not there, and I don't know why.

"I still meant it."

"Then why can't you say it?" Jack's asking the million dollar question. "Three little words, baby, that's all it is. I've seen you work wonders with your words before, so why can't you pull off this eight-letter sentence now?"

"Is it really that important?"

Jack nods, never breaking eye contact. "To me, it is."

"But you know it, Jack. Why do you need to hear it?"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you," he says, and I look away. "If you can't say truthfully that you love me, I'd kind of like to know soon."

I don't reply as I sort through my thoughts. As much as I know I love him, I can't tell him. Because once somebody knows you love them, they know how to hurt you. And then they can leave you. It's easier without love getting involved.

"Angela?"

I meet his eyes, but still, I can't bring myself to say what he wants to hear. "It's getting late. I should probably get going," I say, standing up.

Jack remains silent as I leave.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter!  
**Disclaimer:** Ha. Don't own 'em. I wish, though.

Three Little Words  
Part Two

I drum my fingers against the clipboard I'm holding close to my chest. Cam's been talking to me for a while now, but I've only gotten the gist of her spiel. I've been too busy thinking about last night's talk with Jack. What I've heard though, I don't like.

"Forensic artists hardly even do anything, why would we possibly need to confer?" I ask.

"Apparently, there's a new technique to doing something that's becoming problematic. I don't pretend to understand what they're talking about when they tell me to send my artist to Colorado." Cam raises her hands defensively.

I motion with my hand around the platform. "This is the best lab in the country, and we get some of the hardest cases out there. If there's a problem, I've already found a method to solve it with."

"I'm just doing what I'm told. It's procedure at the Jeffersonian to send our specialists to every possible course, seminar, and conference."

"Fine," I say, "When do I leave?"

"HR has already booked you a five o'clock flight."

"Tonight?"

"You've got an early start tomorrow."

I give her an irritated look. "That is not fair."

* * *

"You left in a rush last night," Jack says before I even notice he's in my office.

"Ya, sorry about that." I spare him only a glance.

He comes over and leans against my desk. "Care to make up for it tonight?"

"I've got some stupid conference thing to go to. I'm leaving in a few hours," I say, making as little eye contact as possible.

"How long?"

"Day and a half."

"Is everything alright with you?" Jack asks, pulling over a chair so he can sit beside me.

I start to tell him I'm fine, then stop and look at him. "With me, yes, but with us, no."

He nods once. "I noticed." When I don't reply, he continues. "What's the matter, Angela? Am I moving too fast for you?"

I had a better question to ask myself: how do you explain that you don't know what the matter is? "Listen, Hodgins," I say, covering the hand he has on my desk with my own. "How about we take advantage of my going away? We can use the time to do a little thinking, re-evaluate our views and positions when it comes to each other." I say 'we' only as a curtosy. Really, I just need time to mull it over alone.

Jack looks taken aback, but nods. "Sure. Have a safe flight, Ange."

* * *

My flight was delayed. I arrived at my hotel room after four in the morning. Thankfully, today's events supplied plenty of opportunity for rest. Now, I'm back in my room and my cell phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Angela, is this a bad time?" It's Jack, and it crosses my mind to tell him I'm busy.

"No, not at all."

"How's the con going?"

"Boring. Thank God it's over tomorrow."

"So you're flying back tomorrow night?"

"I'm supposed to be in by eight. Why?"

"I miss you." When he says this, I picture him giving me the sad sort of grin that says he really loves me, and it stings.

I laugh so the voice on the other end of the line won't be able to tell I feel badly about anything. "You saw me yesterday."

"I'm used to seeing you every day. And if I had my way, I would never let you out of my sight."

"I know you wouldn't," I say, smiling in the dim light.

"It's getting late there, isn't it? I should probably let you go."

"In a big rush to hang up? You only just called."

"I was just checking in on you. Besides, you should get all the sleep you can tonight," he says and we both laugh. "Sleep tight, babe."

"Good night, Jack."

"I love you." I'm not surprised he says it, I'm surprised by how I respond.

"I love you, too." Then I hang up before he can comment on the fact that it takes a long distance phone call to make me say the words he wants so badly to hear, and I always want so badly to say.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Here it is, the end. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first two chapters!  
**Disclaimer:** Ha. Don't own 'em. I wish, though...

Three Little Words  
Part Three

Jack is at the airport when my flight gets in. Surprise, surprise. He gives me a kiss and a hug and offers to carry my bags out, but says nothing of substance. He makes a joke about the lab having been not very busy while I was away. I make a joke about storing energy up from the boring events.

We're already in one of his cars, leaving the airport parking lot, when he asks me, "Your place or mine?"

I give him a look. "What do you think?" A few minutes later, while I'm readjusting his radio, he drives past the turnoff that leads to my building. Apparently, I have him well trained.

We make idle chit-chat until we reach his house. 'House' is a vast understatement, by the way.

"Have you eaten?" Jack asks me as we're going in.

"Ya, I ate at a generic pub in Denver."

"Good," he says, taking off my coat and hanging both of ours in the entranceway. I take a few more steps and eye the scene he's prepared. No light bulbs, just a warmly crackling - and real - fire in the fireplace and a few wide-based candles here and there. The only things on the centre table are a bottle in an ice bucket and two glasses.

Obviously, he's gone to great lengths to romance me. I can't say it hasn't worked.

"What are we celebrating?" I ask playfully.

"We just are," he answers, pouring sparkling liquid from the bottle into each glass. Champeigne. He must _really_ feel like celebrating.

I take the glass he hands me, but wait for him to set the bottle down before drinking.

"A toast?" I suggest.

Jack nods. "To us." I'll drink to that. We clink our glasses together and take a drink in unison. Then we look at each other, both waiting for the other to take the lead. I sit. He sits.

"What are your plans?" He asks, twirling his finger around one of my curls.

"I was going to sit here and enjoy my bubbly beverage."

"I had some other plans in mind." When he grins in his irresistible way, I'm a goner.

"Oh, really?" Our glasses are abandoned soon enough.

What I'm feeling - the taste of Jack's lips, the heat of his body - doesn't just feel good, it feels right.

He pulls my shirt over my head and moves his lips to the strap of my tank top, brushing his lips teasingly over my collar bone.

"You said it," he mutters, and my answer is incoherent. "Last night, on the phone," he continues," you told me you loved me." I'm expecting this. I knew our evening was bound to be interrupted by his quest for a certain three word phrase.

"I know." The way he's lying on top of me, combined with the right amount of flickering light, allows me to lock eyes with him.

"Can you say it to my face?"

"I can." He waits and I smile. "I love you." For words I've always had difficulty saying, they slide smoothly off my tongue. I attribute it to their degree of truth.

Jack echos the words back to me before he lowers his lips again.

Being with him usually feels right. Tonight, it feels perfect.


End file.
